Channel Islands Trip Report and Video

[-Aaron-]

Well this trip report is pretty delayed :P. I went to the Channel Islands at the end of September with Salem Scuba aboard Truth Aquatics. We had a great trip, sunny weather in the 70's topside the whole trip and dives and sea life were beautiful. This was my second trip to the Channel Islands, last year we had amazing visibility, but heavy wind kept us from diving as much in the north and south. This year the water wasn't quite as crystal clear, but we were able to explore some new to me sites on San Clemente and up north.

Just before this trip my dive buddy bought a ContourHD helmet camera and we split a H2OV scuba housing for it. We were pretty excited because it was the first time we would be able to capture images of our dives, as nether of us even had a camera before. It is pretty amazing how far technology has come, these cameras are so compact and take high quality 1080p video, we had no problem getting 2-3 hour plus long dives out of each battery charge, and we just copied off videos between dives to a laptop, though you can get several days worth of footage in each memory card. The ContourHD camera doesn't have a view finder, but we were able to work out a simple system with a velcro strap mounting it to the back of our hand. Then you just had to point your hand at what you wanted to video. The camera uses a fixed focus lens, so anything closer than a foot or so will be blurry, so it isn't the best from macro shots, but for everything else we were blown away by the video quality and ease of use. Capturing video added a cool new element to the dives without requiring spending a lot of time hovering in one place trying to get a perfect shot. We just did our normal dives and flipped on the video when we saw something cool.

When I came home I was introduced to one of the biggest challenges of shooting video. I had 40 gigabytes of clips that needed to be cataloged and edited together :P. Not to mention finding music... After a bit of work I finally condensed our footage down in to a short video. If anyone is interested in checking it out, I uploaded it in 720p to YouTube here:

The Channel Islands: September 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pySJRte34Sg

For anyone that hasn't been The Channel Islands is a nice way to get a "cheap" vacation. No airfare costs, you can bring all your own gear. Sunny weather, comfortable boat, and lots of great diving. They have a unique combination of the colder water type of large marine life we see in the Northwest and warmer water visibility and surface conditions similar to more tropical trips.

[no excuses]

u suck Arron lol, yeh I am jealous. Great video and looks like you had a blast..

[ORDiver]

Thanks for the video Aaron. I don't know anything about shooting video, much less about shooting video underwater but I do know that I really enjoyed watching that one. I have always wanted to go to the Channel Islands. I may have to pick your brain about it and schedule a trip soon.

[-Aaron-]

Thanks guys, glad you liked the video, it was a great trip .

Stan,

If you think you are jealous now, wait until I post my videos from Bonaire, just got back a week and a half ago, amazing trip. I've been busy :P

Once the weather gets nice we need to get out on the boat again. I'm excited about getting some video of the great diving around Oregon. No one believes me when I say our offshore reefs match the stuff I've seen in Canada .

Dave,

Yeah for sure, The Channel Islands are a great place to dive. There are a couple shops in Oregon that do yearly trips. Let me know if you have any questions or want any more information. Maybe we can coordinate on a future trip.

[guitarmaker]

I almost went on that trip Aaron, I really wish I could have now. I'm for sure planning that trip next fall. I'm looking forward to your Bonaire video.

[BASSMAN]

Aaron,
Great Video, Thanks for sharing!
What Charter did you use?
What was the approximate cost per person?
How many days?
Any shore diving?

[ktb]

Wow--amazing viz! Your video *almost* makes me want to go, but that surge didn't look too fun.

[ORDiver]

Once the weather gets nice we need to get out on the boat again. I'm excited about getting some video of the great diving around Oregon. No one believes me when I say our offshore reefs match the stuff I've seen in Canada ..

I agree. I haven't done any of the offshore stuff down by Newport but I have heard it's great. Alright, I'm tired of winter and would like summer to come so we can do some diving in Oregon. Now.

[ORDiver]

Wow--amazing viz! Your video *almost* makes me want to go, but that surge didn't look too fun.

Surge can be fun. It's like being pushed around by an angry, unseen force underwater that sometimes likes to throw you into rocks. It's really not that bad.

[ktb]

Wow--amazing viz! Your video *almost* makes me want to go, but that surge didn't look too fun.

Surge can be fun. It's like being pushed around by an angry, unseen force underwater that sometimes likes to throw you into rocks. It's really not that bad.

Uh-huh. Sure Dave. You go have your fun then.

My first day of diving on the Yukon in San Diego, I got seasick for the first time in my life. Everyone was telling me, "Oh, you'll be fine once you get underwater." So after throwing up several times over the side of the boat and while bobbing on the surface, I gamely descended. It seemed better . . . until I got down to the wreck and was watching the surge throw the seaweed 8 feet back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Nope—that wasn’t good. I thankfully didn’t have to test the theory that you can throw up through your reg as I was able to wait until I surfaced again.

Surge is not my friend. Dramamine, however, is!

[H20doctor]

looks amazing... not a bad set up for the camera , it gives you a nice wide shot of everything , and still is lightweight , and affordable for a Budget minded diver... I will dive there some day .... id take that kinda vis any day , it all looked great, esp the night dive with all the lobsters , Kelp forests Rule

[airsix]

Great video! It's amazing what you did with that little thing. Nice work.

[whatevah]

Thanks for posting your video Aaron - totally understand about the time it takes to edit. It was worth it I think, because I really enjoyed the result - I haven't been down to the Channel Islands in years (in fact, last time I was there I dove with Truth Aquatics and I believe it was the first trip out for the Concepcion after the refurb necessitated by some fool taking it for a joy-ride) but all of the reasons I loved that trip were right there in your video. I see you found Sea Hares and Navanax - nice Treefish too. Bring on the Bonaire video

BC vs OR: I know you dove the Skook - if you've got stuff to match that then I'm coming to visit sometime soon.